1. Technical Field
Systems, methods, and apparatuses consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to an image processor, an ultrasonic imaging device, and an image processing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices such as an acoustic detector, an ultrasonic imaging device, a sonar acoustic detector, or a radar system may receive an external sound wave, ultrasonic wave, or electromagnetic wave, and may generate an ultrasound image or radar image using the received sound wave, ultrasonic wave, or electromagnetic wave.
When an image is generated using the received sound wave, ultrasonic wave, or electromagnetic wave, the acoustic detector, ultrasonic imaging device, or radar may allow collected sound wave signals, ultrasonic signals, or electromagnetic signals to be focused. In this case, the acoustic detector, ultrasonic imaging device, or radar may add a predetermined weight to each channel of the collected signals such that a signal falling within a specific area is emphasized and a signal falling within another area is relatively attenuated, and may focus the ultrasonic signal. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain an image for subject diagnosis.
Beamforming may be used to form a beam. A data-independent beamforming method and/or an adaptive beamforming method may be implemented according to characteristics of a weight added to each ultrasonic signal within an ultrasonic wave channel.
The data-independent beamforming method may use a weight determined independently from an input ultrasonic signal, and is also called fixed beamforming due to a fixed weight.
The adaptive beamforming method may determine an optimal weight according to the input ultrasonic signal. In the adaptive beamforming method, a weight used for beamforming may be changed according to the input ultrasonic signal. The adaptive beamforming is also called data-dependent beamforming.